FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Illinois volleyball team served up a straight-sets win over UNCW in its 2018 season opener on Friday (August 24) at Moby Arena on the campus of Colorado State University.
"Very happy overall with how we played," said head coach Chris Tamas. "It was a long wait from December 8th until now and I think that the team was very excited. I told the team in the locker room that in all my years of coaching, the first match is always one you just hope to get out of the way and obviously compete and we did against an experienced UNCW team. They played well, but I thought we had a response for every one of their runs. We're happy to come out with a victory."
Junior Jacqueline Quade paced the Illini (1-0) with a match-high 15 kills, while senior Ali Bastianelli added nine kills on a .471 hitting percentage and two blocks and classmate Blayke Hranicka turned in eight kills.
Senior Jordyn Poulter posted 35 assists while directing the Illini offense to a .299 hitting percentage, including a .355 clip in the second and a .323 mark in the third.
Morgan O'Brien, taking over the libero roll for the Illini in her sophomore season, paced the squad with 18 digs, with junior Caroline Welsh notching nine in the win. The Illini defense totaled 50 digs to UNCW (0-1)'s 31 and added six blocks en route to holding the Seahawks to a .094 team attack percentage.
After a Quade kill started things off for the 2018 season, the Illini jumped out to a 14-8 lead following a Welsh ace. An Illini service error brought UNCW back within four at 15-11, but the Orange and Blue then finished off the first set with a 10-4 run to take the opener, 25-15.
In a more competitive second period, the Illini broke a 14-14 tie with a 6-1 run capped by a Poulter ace. UNCW continued to battle as back-to-back kills closed the gap to 23-21, but kills from Quade and Bastianelli put UI up 2-0 heading into the break.
The Illini came out firing in the third and raced out to a 12-5 lead on a block from junior Ashlyn Fleming – making her Illinois debut – and sophomore Megan Cooney. The Seahawks closed within four at 14-10 on an Illini attack error, but it would be as close as they would get as the Illini sailed to a 25-16 win in the third set to earn the straight-sets victory.
The Illini continue play in Fort Collins as they face off against host Colorado State on Friday night at 8 p.m. CT.
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